Politico reports that Richard Wolffe will not be doing political analysis on Countdown, in Keith Olbermann’s words, “until we can clarify what else he is doing.”
And MSNBC apologized for failing to disclose Wolffe’s work for Public Strategies, a public relations consulting firm for political clients:
An MSNBC spokesperson told POLITICO yesterday that the network “should have disclosed Richard’s connection to Public Strategies [and] will do so in the future.”
That’s still not good enough for Olbermann, who is keeping Wolffe — guest host on “Countdown” last week — off the show until the situation is sorted out. He wrote on Daily Kos:
As to Richard Wolffe I can offer far less insight. I honor [Glenn] Greenwald’s insight into the coverage of GE/NewsCorp talks, and his reporting on Richard’s other jobs. I must confess I was caught flat-footed. I do not know what the truth is; my executive producer and I have spent the last two months dealing with other things (see above) but what appears to be the truth here is certainly not what Richard told us about his non-news job.
I am confident his commentary to this point has not been compromised — he has been an insightful analyst and a great friend to this show — but until we can clarify what else he is doing, he will not be appearing with us. I apologize for not being able to prevent this unhappy set of circumstances from developing.
Good move on Olbermann’s part.
PAST CONTRIBUTOR.